The Balance Of Nature?: Ecological Issues in the Conservation of Species and Communities

Paperback | February 1, 1992

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Ecologists, although they acknowledge the problems involved, generally conduct their research on too few species, in too small an area, over too short a period of time. In The Balance of Nature?, a work sure to stir controversy, the distinguished theoretical ecologist Stuart L. Pimm argues that ecology therefore fails in many ways to address the enormous ecological problems now facing our planet.

Ecologists describing phenomena on larger scales often use terms like "stability," "balance of nature," and "fragility," and Pimm begins by considering the various specific meanings of these terms. He addresses five kinds of ecological stability—stability in the strict sense, resilience, variability, persistence, and resistance—and shows how they provide ways of comparing natural populations and communities as well as theories about them. Each type of stability depends on characteristics of the species studied and also on the structure of the food web in which the species is embedded and the physical features of the environment.

The Balance of Nature? provides theoretical ecology with a rich array of questions—questions that also underpin pressing problems in practical conservation biology. Pimm calls for nothing less than new approaches to ecology and a new alliance between theoretical and empirical studies.

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Table of Contents

Preface1. Why "The Balance of Nature"?What Ecology Is About and What Ecologists StudyThe Problems of Scaling UpWhat Is the "Balance of Nature"?Beginnings: Elton and MacArthurThe Last of the Old MeetingsA Theoretical BasisHeresiesAre Theoretical and Empirical Studies Incompatible?How This Book Is Organized2. ResilienceWhat Is It and How Do We Measure It?Resilience and the Life-History Characteristics of Individual SpeciesFood-Web Effects on ResilienceEcosystem Effects on ResilienceSummary and ConclusionsAppendixA Note On Temporal Variability3. Temporal Variability and the Individual SpeciesIntroductionBody Size and ResistanceLongevityResilience and Temporal Variability: ModelsResilience and Temporal Variability: Empirical StudiesOther FactorsSummary and ConclusionsAppendix: The Measurement of Population Variability4. The Effects of Food-Web StructureThe Ideas of MacArthur and WattTemporal Variability and the Diversity of PreyTemporal Variability and the Diversity of PredatorsAbundance: The Relative Contributions of Predator and Prey DiversitySummary and Conclusions5. The Variability of the EnvironmentEnvironmental Variability Across SpaceEnvironmental Change Over TimeSummary and Conclusions6. Nonlinear Dynamics, Strange Attractors, and ChaosThe Complexity of Population ChangeWhere to Look for the BeastWhat to Expect: A BestiaryMeanwhile, in the Real World . . .Summary and Conclusions7. ExtinctionsFrom Population Variability to Community PersistenceThe Effect of Population Size on ExtinctionThe Effects of Individual Longevity and Population ResilienceTemporal Variability in DensityThe Effects of Spatial and Demographic StructureChanges in Reproductive Rate at Low DensityFeedback CyclesSummary and ConclusionsA Note on Persistence8. Species Differences and Community Structure as Explanations of Why Introductions FailThe Effects of Individual AdaptationsThe Role of Population ParametersCommunity Structure and Species AssemblySummary9. Patterns in Species CompositionAlternatives"Competition and the Structure of Ecological Communities"Rejecting Competition as an ExplanationThe Debate ContinuesPatterns as Hypotheses: A CatalogExperiments in Persistence: Introduced SpeciesPersistence and PredationSummary10. Food-Web Structure and Community PersistenceDoes Pattern Indicate Persistence?Food-Chain LengthsFeeding on More than One Trophic LevelCompartmentsPredator-Prey RatiosNiche GeometryCohen's Cascade ModelSummary11. Community Assembly; Or, Why Are There So Many Kinds of Communities?Assembly and PersistenceModels of Community AssemblyImplications: Possible Topologies for Community AssemblyMultispecies SimulationsEmpirical StudiesSummary and ConclusionsA Note on Resistance12. Small-Scale Experimental Removals of SpeciesDo Species Removals Have Effects?Four Hypotheses as to which Species can be RemovedLooking Upward: Resistance to Changes in Lower Trophic LevelsSummary13. Food Webs and ResistanceA Food-Web TheoryIndirect Effects in Removal ExperimentsUncertainty in Removal ExperimentsThe Time Scale of Removal ExperimentsSummary14. Changes in Total Density and Species CompositionResistance at the Community LevelA Theory for Changes in Species CompositionA Theory for Changes in Total DensityTesting the Theories

Summary

15. The Consequences of Introductions and ExtinctionsResistance on a Large ScaleDo Extinctions and Introductions Cause Further Changes in Species Composition?Theories of Resistance: Vacant NichesThe Food-Web Theory of Resistance: Its Relevance To Species Introductions and Secondary ExtinctionsThe Role of HistoryA Comment about Habiat IslandsSummary16. Multispecies Models and Their LimitationsRecipes: Getting Community Dynamics from Food-Web Diagrams17. Conclusions and CaveatsResilienceVariabilityExtinctionPersistenceResistanceThe Difficulties: The Inevitable Approaches to Long-Term, Large-Scale, and Hence Multispecies StudiesLiterature CitedSpecies IndexSubject Index

From Our Editors

Stability in any sense depends on characteristics of the species involved, on the structure of the species' food web, and on physical features of the environment.